Runaway
by ShortGirlWithAPen
Summary: Sirius ran away from home, ending up at James's room in the middle of night. Will James ever figure out why? Rated T to be safe.


**Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters!**

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James was asleep in his room when there was a knock on his window, causing him to open his eyes immediately. As he put his glasses on, James wondered who would be outside his window at this time of the night, but as he approached the window, he found his answer: Sirius.

James opened the window and Sirius cautiously ducked inside James's room, as if expecting something bad to come out to the two of them. James shut the window the moment Sirius entered the room, but there was something definitely wrong. Sirius was thinner than James ever knew him to be, there were bruises everywhere that James could see, and Sirius would hardly meet James's eyes, as if ashamed of whatever had happened causing Sirius to be there at that time of night. James tried to make the eye contact necessary to figure out part of what was going on, but Sirius wasn't having any of it.

"Sirius? What's going on?" When Sirius doesn't answer for a few moments, James's worry starts to grow more than it was already. "Siri, please."

"We got into a fight." Sirius whispers quietly, still not meeting James's eyes. By Sirius's tone, James knew that 'we' meant Sirius and his family, as he never talked about his family in any positive way. "I ran away afterward; I'm okay, I just didn't know where to go. This was just the first place I thought of and I thought that maybe-"

"It's okay, Siri. You're gonna be okay here." James cut Sirius off, getting him to sit on his bed, tilting his head up. James immediately saw the bruise around his right eye, which told part of the reason why Sirius didn't want to meet James's eyes. "I'll get my mum, alright? She'll know what to do."

"No, don't. Don't wake her up. In the morning, maybe, okay?" Sirius meets James's eyes, and the amount of hurt in Sirius's eyes surprises James. Sirius doesn't look away like James thought he might have. He instead keeps looking at James blankly.

"Well then let me help you." James says, sitting beside Sirius. "What happened?"

Sirius was quiet for a few moments, looking down, as if deciding what exactly to say. The few moments were almost unbearable for James, not used to Sirius being quiet in any way, but then again, it isn't all the time that Sirius comes to his window in the middle of the night, either.

"We were at the table eating, and Regulus mentioned something about becoming a Death Eater and what he was needed to do to become one. My parents kept going on about how proud they were of him and if everyone was on their side, everything would be perfect. They also said that those who wasn't on their side, along with the muggleborns, need to be exterminated." Sirius looked at James for a second before looking down again. "Then I said that they should just start with me, because I'm never going to be one of them."

James watched Sirius's for any sign that he wasn't telling him something, and it seemed like Sirius was telling the truth so far, but he could tell that it was difficult for Sirius to tell him all this. "Then what happened, Siri?"

"My dad, he came up to me and pushed me against the wall, trying to force me to become one of them, trying to threaten me into believing what they believe. When I still refused, he, um, he hit me." Sirius's voice cracked slightly and James wrapped an arm around Sirius's thin shoulders, which Sirius flinched slightly at, causing James to frown worriedly. "Then other things happened, and I had enough, got some of my things, and came here."

That was when James knew that Sirius was keeping things from him. James pulled his arm away from Sirius's shoulders, checking him over as best as he could, but Sirius was trying to hide his reactions to being touched.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" James asked, looking up to meet Sirius's eyes. Sirius shook his head quickly, but as always, his eyes were what gave him away. "Where are you hurt at, Sirius? What aren't you telling me?" Sirius still refused to speak as he pulled away from James, his hands trembling as he ran them through his hair. James was silent as well as he met Sirius's eyes, pleading silently for Sirius to go ahead and tell him.

"Crucio." Sirius whispered, looking away from James, not wanting to meet James's eyes. "That's what I didn't tell you, Prongs. But there's nothing physical unless you count bruises, I promise."

"I'm not letting you back there." James looked at Sirius with such an intensity that he thought he could burn the wall behind Sirius. This was completely new information to James and it caused anger to course through him. They had hurt one of his closest friends and all he wanted at that moment was to get at them, but he knew that it wouldn't help Sirius in the slightest at the moment, so he forced himself to calm down enough to speak. "I'm not letting you get hurt like this anymore."

"I know I can't go back, James!" Sirius said fiercely, standing up and taking a few steps away from James. "I don't need you to tell me that. I don't need you to tell me anything about what happened, because I was there, and there's nothing that happened that you can tell me about!" James stood up as well, walking over to Sirius; Sirius looked down. James knew that Sirius's anger wasn't directed toward him, but to something entirely bigger, but he still didn't like seeing it in him, as it always meant something bad. James tried to reach out, to so much as touch Sirius, but Sirius simply pulled away from James even more. "I can still feel it, James, and it must've happened days ago. Every time I even think the word, all I can remember is how it felt."

Sirius finally met James's eyes at that, biting his lip nervously. His eyes still shone with the hurt of everything that had happened. It was almost as if Sirius was still trying to hide what he was thinking, but James knew it wouldn't be able to last much longer; Sirius was never much good at hiding whatever it was that he was thinking or feeling.

"I want to help you, Sirius. Please give me that much." Sirius closed his eyes, but didn't say anything. "You're one of my best friends, and I want you to be okay."

"I'm not going to be okay now, James." Sirius said after a moment of thinking. "I hate them so much, but I've lost them, and lost any chance of anything being normal." His voice broke ever so slightly, and James placed a hand on his shoulder. Sirius didn't pull away, like James expected, but rather took a step forward, opening his eyes again and meeting James's eyes. "I need you to be here, to help me."

James nodded, not taking his eyes away from Sirius's. "Let's start with food, okay? We can talk while that's being done, and also after."

Sirius managed to smile at that. The mention of food had definitely gotten his attention, as he didn't know for sure when the last time he actually ate was. It wasn't very long later when Sirius had gotten some food and had the beginnings of a smile on his face.

The pair went back to James's room, both boys exhausted, but James was determined not to get any sort of rest until he knew that Sirius was going to be okay.

Sirius sat on James's bed again, James sitting next to him. James looked over to Sirius and Sirius looked at the floor. "I'll be gone soon." Sirius stated quietly, managing to look over at James.

"We're going to talk to my parents in the morning about you staying. I'm sure they're going to be okay with it." James said, still looking at Sirius. "I won't allow you to just be out there, just like I won't allow you to go pack to your parents." Sirius nodded slightly, sighing tiredly.

"I want Moony and Wormtail to know too." Sirius said, messing with his hands. "They would want to know."

"They would want to know." James confirmed, nodding a bit. He had a small smile on his face, hearing Sirius refer to them by their nicknames. He knew just by that simple fact that Sirius was going to end up being okay. "But I'll just say that you're over here and there's some things you've got to talk about, but how much they know is up to you."

"Thank you." Sirius whispered, leaning up slightly against James. "For everything."

Sirius then fell asleep against James, and James managed to get Sirius to lay down, but he couldn't pull away from him, so he just laid next to him. He quietly apologized for not noticing all this sooner, though he knew that Sirius wouldn't hear him.

That's how Mrs. Potter found them the next morning, curled against each other, both of them still asleep. She stepped into the room, taking off James's glasses and places them on the table, not failing to notice how bad Sirius looked, but decided to wait until they were awake to say something about it, because Sirius was there and safe, where nothing could hurt him now, and James was there, making sure of it. She kissed both of their foreheads before leaving the room, a sad smile on her face, knowing there would be a long day in front of her.


End file.
